A sticky hot summer turns into an even stickier situation in Hitchcock’s “Rear Window”

It’s time to brush the dust off that spy gear my generation most likely hasn’t used since the first Spy Kids movie came out, but this time, we are going old school with Hitchcock’s twisted whodunit, Rear Window. Opening in 1954, stars James Stewart and Grace Kelly take snooping to a whole new level and may later regret it. The story follows L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies, a man confined to a wheelchair for several weeks after a photography accident resulting in a broken leg. It is summer and the heat is blistering, evident in shots of Jeff’s neighbors trying their best to cool off. Jeff, however, is more fascinated in watching his neighbors through his window. The plot escalates as Jeff believes he has seen one of his neighbors, Thorwald, commit murder. Recruiting his Park Avenue socialite love, Lisa (Kelly), Jeff does whatever it takes to convince the others of Thorwald’s recent escapades.

While listed third under AFI’s Top 10 Mystery Films, according to director Hitchcock, Rear Window, is far from the sub genre of mystery. During an AFI Seminar in 1970, Hitchcock explained his involvement in the suspense sub genre rather than mystery. Mystery films are more about the intellectual process of solving the crime while suspense films are made to create an emotional response. Mystery and suspense films seem to have similar characteristics, but after analyzing certain aspects I understand why Hitchcock would refer to Rear Window as a suspense film.

In a mystery the focus is mainly on a detective or amateur sleuth that uses evidence and the finding of clues to continue the plot forward. There are two different story types of a mystery: open and closed. In an open story line the audience is aware of the perpetrator’s identity at the beginning of the film and the plot revolves around the protagonist unraveling the clues to come to the same conclusion as the viewer. The closed story type is considered more of the classic whodunit. The perpetrator’s identity is concealed from the protagonist and audience until later revealed at the end as the resolution. Rear Window would follow the closed-story arc; however, the movie is twisted in a way due to the suspenseful elements Hitchcock expertly uses.

There are a few distinct ways that a director could create suspense in a film. Through soundtrack, camera angle and lighting, suspense can consume the audience with fear and a sense of anxiety. Hitchcock uses these techniques effortlessly in Rear Window. One of the most fascinating elements of Rear Window would be the soundtrack. In the film’s opening scene the audience is introduced to the variety of colorful neighbors, including a musician whose music is audible to all neighbors. This music is what I would consider the main score of the whole film. From intense moments to the seemingly casual shot of Jeff waking up, the neighbor’s music is heard, creating the mood for the film. In a movie about looking into the lives of your neighbors, this odd soundtrack causes suspicion into the back-story of that character. Suspense is also created through different camera angles. The camera does multiples pans of the neighbors, and the audience even gets a special look through Jeff’s binoculars as he is spying through his window. What I think is special about the camera angles in Rear Window is actually what isn’t shown. Never is the inside of Thorwald’s apartment shown from any other angle other than through Jeff’s window. I believe this causes suspense as a viewer because you don’t know whether to believe Jeff or not. Lighting can also produce suspense, and the dim shadows and darkened stand-off between Jeff and Thorwald definitely cause some anxiety for the viewer.

If you’re looking for a thriller filled with conspiracy, surprises and even a touch of romance, Rear Window is the film for you! I would highly recommend this film as well as any of Hithcock’s other films like Psycho, which I wrote about on this blog earlier that you can check out!

 

 

 

Audiences join hardworking whistlers and a princess white as snow on a journey to true love’s kiss

Wishing wells, a magic mirror, pathways through a dark forest and a prince ready to save the day set the scene for Walt Disney’s beloved classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Premiering in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs follows the story of “the fairest of them all,” princess Snow White, as she finds refugee with seven diamond-mining dwarfs from the Queen that wants her dead. Through the Queen’s witchcraft, illusion and an irresistible poisoned apple, Snow falls under a sleeping curse only her true love is worthy of breaking.

While this film that graced our screens as children created a sense of hope and love in all of us, this Disney adaption is far from its origins as a Grimm Brother’s fairy tale. The main theme is still prevalent: the Queen so determined to be the fairest in the land she hires the Huntsman to return with Snow’s heart. However, in the Grimm story, the Queen eats the heart she assumes is Snow’s. Like the Disney film, the Queen obviously takes matters into her own hands with witchcraft and disguises. In the movie, the Queen is successful in right away with the poisonous apple. In the Grimm story, she is not so lucky. First the disguised Queen convinces Snow to buy a corset she ties too tight, causing Snow to almost choke to death. Fortunately, the dwarfs save Snow in time. The persistent Queen tries a cursed comb and eventually the poisonous apple that finally causes Snow to fall into a deep sleep. As for the most romantic, and arguably most memorable, part of the film, the Grimm brothers didn’t have such a butterflies-in-your-stomach, happy-ending in mind. Instead of a charming Prince kissing Snow awake, the Prince’s men are carrying her glass coffin when they stumble and the apple is dislodged from Snow’s throat. Not such a swoon-worthy moment!

 

So why was Disney’s version so different? Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937; however, the film spent many years before in production. With the 1930s in America ridden with unemployment and poverty, movie-goers lived far far away from a fairy tale. Starting with Mickey Mouse, Disney created a sense of hope during the Depression era. Before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney mainly created short nine-minute cartoons. These cartoons stood as uplifting breaks from the reality most Americans were living. With Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated film, Disney didn’t take the gruesome moments of the Grimm’s story so present audiences with movie filled with great love and happiness, something the country desperately needed at the time.

 

Not only did the uplifting spirit of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cause the film to be considered the best animated movie of all time, but it was also the gateway to the creation of more full- length animated films. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of the first movies to use Technicolor; color cinematography that used synchronized monochrome films in different colors. This produced the movies in color instead of black-and-white. Walt Disney also used the first large-scale multi-plane camera to create the “soft focus” memorable to Disney’s animated films. The multi-plane camera used painted foregrounds and backgrounds on different carriages of the camera and lit them differently. This allowed a different level of light on each shot. Disney continued this camera technique in is later films. The Little Mermaid was the last film of his to use the multi-plane camera.

If you haven’t seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I would highly recommend the film for people of all ages. Anyone watching can enjoy the dwarf’s slapstick comedy and the light-hearted musical score to go along with it. What are your thoughts on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Would you have preferred a cartoon more familiar with the Grimms’ telling of the story?

 

Can’t get enough of the fairest of them all? Check out the modern-day adaptions of this classic film, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman.

 

Ali can sting like a bee, but La Motta never backs down in Scorsese’s biographical sports drama

With punches thrown, blood soaked sponges and the quick flash of 1940’s cameras, Raging Bull is a gritty film about the life and boxing career of Jake La Motta. Topping AFI’s Top 10 Sports Films, director Martin Scorsese does not leave out the gruesome details of La Motta’s career and what he risked to be a boxing title champion. La Motta’s “present-day” life, one of stand-up routines and bar scenes, set in the 1960s frames the movie as this epic biopic travels through La Motta’s tumultuous ‘40s and ‘50s career.

Jake La Motta is portrayed by Robert De Niro, who won an Academy Award for the role. De Niro went through various weight fluctuations and boxing training to become this character. Certain elements of the film, including the way La Motta views and treats women, mainly his second wife, stayed true to La Motta’s own written biography. The film displays aggressive and abusive behavior from La Motta toward wife, Vickie, stemmed from an undetermined paranoia. Obsessed with Vickie, who she is with and what she does when he’s away, Jake eventually drives her out of his life, along with his other close companions; mainly his brother Joey who serves as his friend and manager.

An interesting take on a sports film, Raging Bull presents more than just gory face-smashing boxing matches. While the movie focuses heavily on La Motta obsessing over his sport and having that obsessiveness transfer to his daily life, the movie includes a good sense of American history.  During this time in boxing the mafia was in charge of the Board, meaning the mob decided who won and who would fight whom. As true to the actual events taking place, La Motta’s brother Joey gets involved with mafia member, Salvy. However, with Jake’s determination to win only because he was the better fighter, the mafia becomes displeased with his refusal for help and turns the boxing world against him.  Adding this to the film added suspense and development in the psyche of the character Jake La Motta.

As a warning to those interested in the film, the title is most definitely fitting. Raging Bull is not a sports movie with an overall theme of hope attached to it, much like the sports dramas of today. La Motta is portrayed as a hot head with a violent temper and is not seen even as a tragic hero. What is interesting about this sports biopic is that you don’t necessarily want to cheer for Jake, the assumed protagonist. La Motta is seen as the bully; however, there isn’t a true protagonist you cheer for rather than La Motta. While I liked the different aspects of the film, I wouldn’t recommend it for those looking for an uplifting film of a struggling athlete turning to a better life.  This film is completely the opposite.

For those of you who have seen Raging Bull, do you agree with the analysis? Was Raging Bull what you expected from a sports film? I want to hear your thoughts so comment below!